The city went on for miles in every direction. There was simply no end to it; if it were empty, and one looked down a street, it would gently curve away, while looking upwards would only present skyscrapers of near endless stature. One would see all that, and a barely visible ceiling concealed by clouds of course. This is what an older Core World was like for Yotruyan, and completely not like his childhood home. He was fortunate enough to grow up on an Outer World, but here in the Mega Cities of the Core Worlds, was where the fighting was the heaviest. By now, things had settled down and stabilized to the point that the two factions each had half of the galaxy in their grip, with that gray line between them the most heavily contested. That, fortunately, was where he was not at. He was located somewhere behind that hotly contested line on a planet which was supposed to be safe despite the proximity to the front. Emphasis on â€˜supposed to beâ€™ of course.

*****

Several large, muscular creatures flowed between the empty civilian vehicles like ghosts; their camouflage helping them to blend in despite the speed and urgency of their movements. They each looked like giant lizards, each with heavy segmented armor plate, glimpses of flesh barely visible underneath as they moved; it almost seemed as though every inch of their flesh was impinged with plate mail. The four eyes they had quickly darted here and there looking for threats as their long, slender tails waved behind them. Despite their brutal, muscular appearance, these armored forms were very careful and precise. Without a noise, the platoon quickly filed into a book and music store, and set up their operations there. â€œAs you know, these three levels of the Mega City went silent four hours ago, and we have been dispatched from its neighboring levels to investigate. For those of you who are â€˜country bumpkinsâ€™ like meâ€¦â€ minor, silent cheers went out from a few, â€œA single level is several dozen kilometers high, and a few hundred wide in each direction, depending on numerous factors. For those of you who are complete retards, it means something is horribly wrong for a single, fully populated level to go silent, not to mention more than one level.â€ He spoke silently, armored face and jaw working. When finished, he mentally linked directly with the others, and moved out. They already knew who was behind this, but what they wanted to know was why, and even more importantly, how such a thing was done. How did this happen to so many people? Speaking of people,, where were all of them? The group moved deeper, and deeper into the Mega City, until something perked their interest; projectile weapons had scarred the entire intersection, with a barricade of civilian vehicles in the center. Like a trademark, the place was littered with small bits of white metal, black metal, the occasional obsolete weapon and lots of blood; the place was devoid of bodies and anything else of interest, except for one thing.â€Leader. Look at this.â€ a minor spoke over the comms. He then pulled out a metal badge out of the wreaked cars. â€Saw a glint of gold here and yanked it out. It looks like the local Home Guard was here. Kids too young, and men too old mostly; you donâ€™t need me to say what happened here really.â€â€Sounds like the same old stuff. You two, pipe into the old networks, and tell the Planetary Defense Forces what they already know. Oh, and add on that weâ€™re going deeper.â€â€œDeeper? Pardon Leader, but I will voice my objection; it sounds stupid.â€â€œYes. But Iâ€™m the Lieutenant, and youâ€™re not. Weâ€™re going in. Besides, I want to know where they stuffed the bodies. I know for a fact youâ€™re all itching to find out.â€ As the reptilian troopers moved more cautiously, a slightly older person asked Yotruyan,â€Mind me asking? Iâ€™ve been a Trooper for a while, and well, how did you become LT before me?â€â€œThe same way youâ€™re probably going to make it; by having everyone else above you getting cut down first. It works every time.â€

****

A young couple, both lizard-folk with bright and colorful feathers, darted from cover. The guy lagged behind, and a harsh cough later, he was covered in Tier One Silicon. These angelic forms in the image of the same people literally tore him limb from limb, ingesting him, having their reactors break down and disintegrate the evidence. The girl was pounced on, and lifted into the air by one of the Silicon; a blade then extended out of the free handâ€™s wrist, pressing against the bare neck. She quivered at the cold, lifeless touch. Guess that explains it. Yotruyan motioned with his hands to the others,â€Hold fire. Wait. Thingy, coming out. At his gesture, something different from the other came out of the alley. Unlike the others, which were weaponized and lightly armored versions of the latest servant androids and gynoids prior to the war, this newcomer was purpose built. She, for it was undoubtedly female, was best described as pretty, and deadly. The form, though heavily armored, was sleek, slim and beautiful like that of a female model. Its body was covered in the stark white plates the Silicon favored, but itâ€™s shoulder had a piece of older metal worn as decoration. Its face, no, her face, was pale white as well, made of plastic, featherless, and yet again, pretty despite this. One of its arms was what looked like a light cannon of sorts, like a long rectangular bock from the elbow down, and one meter in length; Yotruyanâ€™s Combat Skin's four eyes widened in horror when he recognized the intricate patterns in the sides. Graviton Manipulator! Someone else realized the same thing, and spammed the squad comm,â€œShit!â€

A weaponized graviton beam would be highly condensed in the conventional usage of the term, and exert sufficient gravitational force to physically harm an object. In this case, the beam of massless and zero-dimensional particles is highly 'condensed' in the common usage, but only exerts it's force in a certain radii of the beam due to the physical constrains of the manipulation device that emits it. The 'containment field' of the manipulator is only 'so good' at concentrating gravitons and their effects. For one particular person, and many others in general, this all means that the beam is capable of passing through cover and then into said person's chest. Anyone would notice that such a beam would literally draw the light in and in effect create a 'black beam' for all to see, much like how a 'black hole' is black. Fortunately, depending on viewpoint, the effects of the beam are only localized to a few centimeters of it's 'core'. The beam would pass through the loud Marine's chest, draw in all matter within a certain radius of the beam, and with said matter, condense it so tightly as to create a fusion reaction. The beam would eventually cease, and the energy released. Of course, the energy released would be small, and the reaction itself inefficient, but would still suffice to blow away the upper torso of the unfortunate loudmouth, leaving the legs and hips kneeling briefly before falling over to meet the ground.

****

The Tier Three instantly killed GM-009 with the shot before turning it's back and walking away. The T1 that held the girl merely stabbed her in the gut and tossed her towards the Galactic Marines' position; the rest of the horde instantly ran after her as she did a bloody pirouette. Consequently, the Silica found them. Yotruyan gave his orders."Up. Now!" he yelled, and leaped a story into the air as an example. They jumped up, rapidly scaling the buildings, occasionally landing on the jutting catwalks and pipes protruding out of the endless 'skyscrapers'. Yotruyan fired away the MC-R he had as well, but it didn't distract him from what he saw; 29 Galactic Marines against at least 200 Silica. And then the blinking started. GM-22 didn't keep her distance far enough, and poofs of smoke covered her shoulders as the ballistic knives fired into a pair of T1s, knocking them away. Five more took their place. Yotruyan suddenly jumped again, firing at a white blur that tried to follow. He refocused an eye on her; she was now being torn out of her Combat Skin. She screeched high and loud as they pulled her out, minus an arm, and then tossed both her and the suit into the writhing depths below. 28. Simultaneously, brass castings begun to rain from above, and two of his eyes locked onto GM-12 and 16. They twisted and convulsed as high explosive rounds sprayed over them. Tier 2 units fired their integrated assault rifles, slowing down the two new guys. The stark white horde caught up, piled on, and together, they all fell. Yotruyan lost count there; stay alive was the name of the game.

****

"Shit!" a third Capacitor fused into his MC-R as he tried to reload it; it was growing more and more unstable, and several of the empty capacitors attached randomly on the outer body were starting to leech off his suit. Eventually, the living rifle would go berserk, and explode. A black lance reached out and 'touched' GM-05 on the tail, the only other survivor, and sent him spinning into the side of a skyscraper. He bounced off, and was followed by a hail of high explosive rain. 05 flat-lined as a dozen hit him in the neck. Better now than when he needed it the most later. He emptied out the newest capacitor he reloaded into the Tier 2 units above, destroying them, and stopped moving. Yotruyan begun channeling all his power from the spine on his back into the cobbled gun. As they leaped and climbed towards him, he held his ground. "Eat me." he spammed the radio. Seemingly at his becking, they stopped evasive leaps and bounds, and made beelines for him. Perfect.

The black rifle slowly fell to the white and foggy abyss below. The Silica kept on moving up. And then a single shot rang out. The high explosive slug impacted one of the fully charged capacitors fused into the MC-R. They chain detonated, and unleashed a massive electrical storm before busting into flames. The forty or so T1 units fell, disappearing from view. Yotruyan started a countdown timer of 10 minutes. 10 minutes until they rebooted. And in eight, 29 of the platoon's members were killed. Before he could even swear, GM-22's status light came back on, but with a 'low internal integrity' light over the belly and parts of the suit. Next to that, was an 'unauthorized personnel' symbol. Who could that be?

Nothing. Nothing on visual scan. Nothing on passive detectors either. No graviton distortions, or emissions. Nothing to be heard, save for his own two beating hearts. The one his mother and father had given him beat on, while the new, fake one labored. The pain made him clutch his chest briefly. The four bulbous red eyes looked about in every direction before the nictitating membrane pulled back, revealing the actual eyes beneath. The sudden exposure had the lids squint, giving the eyes a thin, elongated appearance. The blood red membranes closed over, allowing the helmet eyelids to fully open. Once again, the red orbs looked about unhindered. Grey concrete trunks and black piping as branches. Polymer windows and white mist shrouded the endless cityscape. The Tier 3 had disengaged for now. Though strange, he never questioned providence. He fought it. The lights were slowly starting to dim. Time to go check on his 'guest squad-mate'. A step forward, and off the ledge. He fell.

****

Yotruyan hastily pulled away the shattered remains of the many white forms, moving towards the small radio contact he had. A black plated hand laboriously came up, which he grasped and pulled. A weak, breathless voice called out, "Help." Yotruyan merely grunted. It was just as he guessed; the young woman he saw earlier wasn't quite dead yet, and was clever enough to climb into a nerve suit, and finally a combat skin. He glanced to the left, and inside a tangled bunch of limbs, he saw GM-22's arm. She probably yanked that out of the suit herself. He quickly granted her access, allowing her to move more freely; her spine was damaged, so she couldn't walk. Still, he had to help her. It was his duty after all. He had her on his back, legs weakly wrapped around his belt, and arms around his neck. He started to run away. She whimpered in pain as the running jolted her."Don't worry, you'll be fine."As long as I can get far away enough in eight minutes.

****

The white blade had passed right through her, scraping her spine in the process and damaging her thoracic diaphragm. It must have been hell for her to breathe. Each time the muscle contracted for her to draw in air, the wound most likely...she started to whisper. "Will. We. Live?""It depends. How did you and the other make it this far anyways?" He answered quickly and bluntly. "Ha. Haa. Ha-ck!" The harsh, forced laugh answered him, followed by a little something from her pocket. It was a radio, with a small, homemade jamming apparatus attached to it."Clever. I thought they were too smart to be bugged by something like this. The jamming algorithm must be quite excellent. Did you make this?" She shook her head and asked for water. Now that he thought of it, he was a little thirsty as well. His combat skin was penetrated in a few places, and lost fluid, and it in turn took a little from him. Yotruyan silently glided down the supermarket isle and grabbed the bottles on sale, as well as some snacks before slithering back. Her helmet was missing, so she easily drank."Slowly, slowly. Good." Even though the suit was healing her, it was less than optimal. She simply wasn't the owner. She licked her lips, and pushed a stray feather away from her eye."Brother. He made..." she stifled the urge to throw up before going on, "He made it. Old Tech. It...it tickled his nose. Me? I'm ah. A Bio-Engineer. Or. Was going to be.""College student huh? I'm guessing you're part of the Lifeblood Initiative?" Yotruyan reached up and slipped his armored claw tips under the flesh of his chin. The entire hand crept up under the plated 'face' of his combat skin, and tore it, eyes and all, back like a hood. Next, the skull face plate slid forward and off. Yotruyan took a deep breath of fresh air and sipped some water. "I finished it early, and even took the Crude Weapons Initiative." The young woman's eyes widened. He had to admit, she did look cute surprised like that. She started speaking with more life despite her serious wound."If you're that good with your studies, why here as a Galactic Marine?! Your skills are squandered!" She started a small, coughing fit that brought up blood. Yotruyan chuckled briefly before wiping it away for her. "What's so funny?" she asked."What's your name?""Moriki. Yours?""My name is Yotruyan. Well Moriki, the sad truth is, I'm better here than in some Arr and Dee department. The fact that I'm still alive and the others aren't should tell you this." A third person's laughter emanated from somewhere in front of the supermarket. The newborn chick like squeaky 'Ha!' of Ottyo laughter sounded robotic, and even hiccuped periodically, like an audiio loop. "Maybe not for long. That Tier Three Class is back. I hope you can stay alive without company. Wish me luck."